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Transformation Expo at Coliseum
Renowned preacher, author, filmmaker and entrepreneur Bishop T.D. Jakes is coming to Richmond this weekend. The 57-year-old pastor at the 30,000-member The Potter’s House church in Dallas is scheduled to speak at the annual 2015 Transformation Expo 4 p.m. Saturday, March 21, at the Richmond Coliseum in Downtown. Doors open at 11 a.m. for the expo, which is scheduled from noon to 5 p.m. Organizer Radio One describes it as “a day of empowerment, education and entertainment.”
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Horace Fisher III, 66, longtime music teacher
Horace Fisher III was raised with an abiding love of music. “He told me his mother, Gertrude Anderson Fisher, would play music as she cleaned the house on Saturdays and they would sing to the music,” said his wife, Brenda C. Fisher. “And his father, Horace Fisher Jr., liked classical music.” Her husband, Mrs. Fisher said, also loved old musicals. Drawing from his deep affection for music, Mr. Fisher taught band and chorus in Richmond Public Schools for 35 years. He also acted locally and nationally in theater productions for three decades.
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Varina church hosts men’s conference
A Virginia state senator, a former field director for the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr.’s Rainbow PUSH Coalition and a former executive director at the Virginia State Conference NAACP are among a diverse array of speakers slated for Antioch Baptist Church’s men’s conference this weekend. The conference is free. Sessions will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, March 13; 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, March 14; and 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, March 15.
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Bedden to stay in Richmond
“Everyone should check your emails,” Richmond School Board member Jeffrey M. Bourne eagerly alerted his colleagues late Tuesday afternoon prior to a hastily called board budget meeting. The six other board members in attendance then quickly turned to their hand-held electronic devices and scrolled to an email sent to them by Richmond Public Schools Superintendent Dana T. Bedden at 5:07 p.m.
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Dems need winning formula
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel just got spanked. Despite a campaign war chest of more than $15 million and the support of President Obama, the former congressman and White House chief of staff could not avoid a runoff in the non-partisan election. Garnering 45 percent of the vote to runner-up Jesus “Chuy” Garcia’s 34 percent, he did not clear the 50 percent bar for victory. Mr. Emanuel, the darling of the mainstream Democratic Party, has earned the dubious distinction of being in the first Chicago mayoral runoff in nearly 20 years. He also runs the risk of being the first incumbent mayor ousted since Harold Washington beat Jane Byrne in 1983.
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Whipping up war, disrespect
If we needed further proof of the Republican disrespect shown to President Obama, the nation witnessed the latest insult Tuesday with the visit of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington, where he addressed a joint session of Congress. His appearance was at the invitation of House Speaker John Boehner, a Republican who flouted protocol and decency by neither consulting nor informing the White House first.
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Baptist Ministers’ Conference to host 4-day citywide revival
The Baptist Ministers’ Conference of Richmond and Vicinity is hosting its annual citywide revival. The Metro Revival will be Monday, March 9, through Thursday, March 12, at Cedar Street Baptist Church of God, 2301 Cedar St. in Church Hill.
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Pastor gets the boot
Parson departs amid Richmond Christian Center’s move to survive
More than a year after filing for bankruptcy, the Richmond Christian Center is gaining a fresh shot at survival after seizing financial power from founding pastor Stephen A. Parson Sr. The pastor, who launched RCC in his living room more than 31 years ago, is no longer a member of the church’s ruling Board of Trustees and has been stripped of control of the church’s bank account.
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Social workers offer symposium on society issues
“Walk Into Your Season: Enhancing Knowledge & Cultural Awareness.” That’s the theme for a symposium presented by the Richmond Association of Black Social Workers.
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Just desserts
Maureen McDonnell should go to prison. Virginia’s former first lady has been convicted of eight counts of corruption for trading access to state officials in exchange for more than $177,000 in gifts and loans from a Virginia businessman. Last week she was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison. She should not argue special circumstances or seek legal loopholes to appeal her conviction to avoid serving time. If she were truly remorseful for putting her family and the citizens of Virginia through the shame and disgrace her actions have wrought, she would save the taxpayers the cost of an appeal.
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Grassroots effort mounts to keep Bedden
Richmond Public Schools Superintendent Dana T. Bedden interviewed Wednesday for the superintendent’s job in snow-covered Boston and prepared to meet Thursday with Boston Mayor Marty Walsh. The Boston School Committee is expected to name its top choice for the job early next week, according to reports. Meanwhile, a growing number of Dr. Bedden’s supporters in Richmond are continuing their efforts to convince him to stay and lead the aggressive RPS turnaround effort he began after becoming the struggling school district’s superintendent in January 2014.
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2-day conference to raise awareness, uplift community
It’s called “R.I.S.E. Up Weekend 2015, Awakening Your Inner Giant.” And it’s scheduled for Friday, Feb. 27, and Saturday, Feb. 28, in room 1201 in the Monroe Campus Academic Learning Commons at Virginia Commonwealth University, 1000 Floyd Ave. The theme of the two-day conference, designed in conjunction with Black History Month, is based on the African proverb: “If you want to go far, go together. If you want to go fast, go alone.”
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VSU to go all the way in CIAA tournament?
Flip a coin. That may be as good a way as any to predict the winner for the 70th CIAA men’s basketball tournament that commences Feb. 24 in Charlotte, N.C. There is no clear dominant team this winter and Time Warner Cable Arena has proven to be an equal opportunity venue since the tournament set up shop there in 2006.
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Petersburg city attorney gets lesson in First Amendment
Citizens no longer will be barred from addressing Petersburg City Council solely because they owe money to the city. City Attorney Brian Telfair notified the ACLU of Virginia that the prohibition would be lifted, the constitutional watchdog group announced Tuesday. Mr. Telfair issued the response after the Richmond-based group demanded an end to the practice that he previously had deemed legal. “This prohibition violates the First Amendment and must be rescinded immediately,” Rebecca K. Glenburg, legal director of the Virginia ACLU, wrote to Mr. Telfair in a letter issued Feb. 5.
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Morrissey trial set for April 28
Delegate Joseph D. “Joe” Morrissey hoped for a speedier trial. Now he must wait two months to fight new grand jury indictments — including a charge that he forged a document that he presented as evidence in the case that landed him in jail.
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Richmond Unitarian church starts pledge to end racism
The Birmingham Pledge to end racism is painted on the wall of the city’s police headquarters in Birmingham, Ala. “I will discourage racial prejudice by others at every opportunity ...” the pledge on the wall reads. A painting of four white and black boys with their arms around each other accompanies the pledge, which first circulated around Birmingham about two decades ago.
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AIDS Awareness Day program Saturday
Soul-searching songs, dramatic readings and powerful storytelling will fill 31st Street Baptist Church this weekend. The event: “The 2nd Annual United Voices: Raising Awareness Through Song & Word” community gathering. It is designed to commemorate the 15th National Black HIV/ AIDS Awareness Day.
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School success
Carver Elementary teamwork fosters rewards for students
“We take an all-hands-on-deck approach to educating our children.” That’s how George Washington Carver Elementary School Principal Kiwana Yates enthusiastically describes the full community involvement approach she and her staff utilize.
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Personality: Rosa A. Jiggetts
Spotlight on mission to proclaim ‘Be Kind Wednesdays’
Rosa Annie Jiggetts is always ready to help. Her idea of a perfect day is one in which she can do at least one good deed. For the past 30 years, the 65-year-old Richmond native has run the Helpline out of her Providence Park home on North Side, with the assistance of her sister, Lydia.
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State legislature oblivious to plight of working poor
On Jan. 19, while the rest of the nation was giving recognition to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Virginia Senate’s Commerce and Labor Committee voted down one of several measures that would have increased the state’s minimum wage.
